Improvement in percussion and reaction water-wheels



triceo ZEBULON PARKER AND ROBERT MCKELVEY, (ADMINISTRATOR OF AUSTIN PARKER, DEOEASED,) OF NEVARK, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN PERCUSSION AND REACTION WATER-WHEELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. H ,65, dated June 27, 1840.

, improvements.

The percussion and reaction wheel or wheels, whether on a horizontal or a vertical axis or shaft, is inclosed in abox or case, which is denominated a draft,7 which draft is made air and Water tight at the top and sides; but

itis without a bottom, the mouth of said draft g dipping into the water and being, wheneverV` the mill is running, below the level of the water in the tail-race. Its action in this case will be like that of any air and water tight box having one side open and that side placed downward,so that its edges shall dip into water*that is to say, if such box be filled with Water it will remain full, provided its altitude above the surface of the water be not greater than that of a column which will be sustained by atmospheric pressure. The water which passes into these air-tight cases or drafts passes in through the percussion and reaction wheels in a manner to be presently described.

Figure l in the accompanying` drawings is a perspective view of thel front of the penstock, exhibiting the arrangement of two vertical wheels upon the same horizontal shaft, which arrangement is deemed one of the most convenient. for saw-mills, as well as for various other purposes. A A are the boxes or drafts, within which the wheels are contained, one of these A having the upper portion and one end removed for the purpose of showing the wheel within it. B is the shaft, and C the reaction and percussion Wheel within it, which .wheel runs, as nearly as may be, watertight against the side of the draft, the wheel in the other draft serving to balance the pressure of the water upon it, and so' reciprocally. D is a crank on one end of the shaft for communieating the power. E E are the passages for water onto the wheels, which passages are divided from each other by a partition a between them. The wheels cover circular openings in the sides of the drafts in the ordinary manner, through which the water is freely admitted to them. Fis the gate by which the admission of water to the wheels is regulated. The line G G shows the levels of the tail-water when the mill is running, and the lower edges of the drafts extend a little below this line, when they open to the tail-race. A part of this opening is seen at I-I.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the waterwheel placed horizontally, the vertical shaft of which adapts it directly to the purpose of running millstones, as well as to many other objects. The draft in this case extends down 4on each side of the wheel, as at I l, these two portions being connected by and forming one water-receptacle with the part denominated the Wheelchamber J, which is the part in which the wheel is contained. K is a sliding gate to regulate the admission of water to the Wheel,whieh is shown as governed by a toothed wheel on the vertical shaft L meshing into a rack on the arm M of the gate. This gate covers an opening on the side of a circular curb upon which the wheel is placed. N N is the tail-Water line, as in Fig 1, the operation of the draft being the same as set forth in the explanation of that iigu re. O is the end of the bridge-tree, operating in the ordinary way. The apertures through which the water is conducted to the wheels are constructed in the manner or upon the principle described in the specication of the original patent above referred to.

As the drafts are made air and water tightand they are usually filled with air before the mill is set in operation,it might be supposed that this air Would interfere with their being filled with water; but such, in fact, is not the case, as from the agitation produced by the passing of the water from the Wheels into the drafts the air is intermiugled therewith, and is speedily carried out with it, leaving the drafts'entirely filled with water. By this arraugelnent of the wheels Within the drafts they may be placed at a greater elevation than upon any other known plan,while at the same time the pressure or draft of the water below nnted drafts substantiallyin the manner them will have the same effect upon them as und J[br the purpose above set forth. Y

it would if situated above them and acting in ZEBULON PARKER..

the ordinary manner of head-Water. ROBERT MCKELVEY.

What is claimed as new in the above-de- Witnesses to the signature of Zebulon Parsoribed improvement on the percussion and ker:

reaction wheel as originally patented by Z. JOHN MOORE,

The placing of the said Wheel or Wheels or Vitnesses to the signature of Robert Mc- Of Wheels analogous thereto in their construc- Kelvey: -iton and mode of operation Within air and WM. II. MERWIN,

Water tight eases Aor boxes, herein denomi- C. A. MCBANE. 

